Page 20 of The Rent Just Went Up

“I’m gonna go,” I say as I turn for the door. But as I reach out for the doorknob, I feel Malcom’s hand on my wrist.

“Whoa, wait a second there.” He spins me toward him like we’re dancing and catches me in his arms. But I can’t even look at him. I turn my head and stare at the wall, where a painting hangs there of a coastline as the sun sets. “You’re not leaving right now.”

“I’m not?” My voice is barely a whisper. He’s telling me what to do, and for some reason, I’m nearly happy to let him.Yes, boss me around. I need you to.

“No. Not right now you’re not,” he says. “Nikki, go sleep in the guest house. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

“Okay, boss.” I’m sure she has more to say, but she’s being nice to me for whatever reason. God, think about how terrible I must look right now for her to do that. I keep my eyes on the painting but hear her footsteps as she makes her way out the back. Once the door closes, Malcom takes me by the chin and forces me to look up at him.

“I wouldneverdo that to you,” he says firmly, his eyes filled with sincerity. “I’m not like your ex.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. We’re not dating, Malcom,” I reply, somewhat spitefully. “You made that quite clear when you didn’t call me.”

For the first time since I met him, I see Malcom falter. He pauses as though he’s going to say something, then stops and visibly chooses something else.

“I had my reasons.”

“Oh?” I ask. “And what were those?”

To my surprise, I feel his hand slip up my shirt and cup my breast. I should grab it and pull it out of there—No, you don’t get to do that right now—but I don’t. I let him, and my whole body comes alive.

“I don’t know if the girl that just tore up my lawn and came bursting into my house at one in the morning gets to demandanythingfrom me right now,” Malcom replies with a grin, shifting his grip to my other breast and squeezing the nipple with just the right amount of pressure.

“Oh, is that right?” I ask. “But the guy who doesn’t call me for a month has access to my body?”

“You gave me your virginity,” he replies, sliding his palm down my stomach until he reaches the hem of my pants. He pops the button and slips two fingers inside. “I have access to your body whenever I want—forever.”

This is crazy. I don’t think I should be letting this happen right now, but I also don’t have the ability to stop him. No, that’s not right actually—Idon’t wantto stop him. The way he’s taking me like he owns me is turning me on in a very primal way. I should be furious and push him to explain himself about the last thirty days, but as his two fingers find my clit, I can’t do anything but slump forward and let my face fall against his strong, manly chest.

“I—we shouldn’t,” I stammer in a whisper.

“Oh, yes we should,” Mal replies, his voice a growl in my ear. “And we’re going to.”

12

Malcom

My parents’divorce was the hardest thing I ever went through. I never went to therapy for it, and neither did my sister. We should have, and I know that now. She and I both dealt with it in different ways. I became what you might call “a player,” and Nikki decided she could go the opposite way and do exactly what Mom and Dad did not.

She could find the right guy, fall in love, marry him, and make it all work. She wouldn’t cheat, she wouldn’t fall for someone else, and they would have a perfect fairy-tale relationship almost out of spite—almost to say to my mom, “You see? This is what youshould havedone.”

She found her man, Thomas, just after high school, and did her best to make everything go as perfectly as possible. And they did for a while—for a while.

Things in their relationship started to deteriorate. It wasn’t anything major. It wasn’t all at once. But every now and then, I’d find myself taking her in when she just couldn’t take being at home with her husband. Sometimes she’d stay two nights before going home to work things out again. And if I didn’t have a bad enough view on relationships and love already, Nikki and Thomas’ marriage didn’t exactly help.

But tonight, as I hold Erika in my arms and feel her soft skin against my body, and gaze into her innocent eyes that look up at me with such need, a wonder that moments ago were askingHow could you do this to me?I find myself asking if the conclusions I’ve been drawing from my parents’ divorce, from Nikki and Thomas’ disintegrating relationship, haven’t been all wrong.

I parther folds with my two fingers and find her clit, nice and moist and ready for me. Yeah, she wants this, despite the mouthy retorts she’s been giving me. All I have to do is apply the slightest amount of pressure to her little button, and her entire body comes alive. Her back arches and her hips buck forward into me, and I have to shift my grip to her upper back to keep her from falling backwards as her legs go weak.

A sensual moan falls from her beautiful lips, and I watch intently as lust takes over her face and her eyes focus up on mine, filled with pure submission and desire.Do what you want with me, they say. And God do I not need to be told twice.

My pulse races as I circle her clit with the tip of my finger. Her body begins to tremble as I hold her. It’s so fucking hot, but it’s not enough. I need to see her. I need to seeallof her.

With a single motion, I lift her in a way that lets her know she’s supposed to wrap her legs around my waist—and she does. And then it’s up the stairs and into my bedroom, where I dump her onto my bed and quickly start tearing at her clothes as if they might poison her or start burning away her layers of skin.

“Mal…” she whimpers as I strip her down to her beautiful birthday suit. I hear her, but barely. Her beauty and this makeup (if that’s what this is) has me fiercely lost in the moment as I drop to my knees and press my lips to hers—the sweet, moist, pink lips between her thighs that I justknoware begging to be licked and sucked by me at this very moment. She cries out. “Oh my God!”

I slide my tongue into her hole—tasting her and mimicking penetration—then drag my fleshy bulb up her wet valley until I find her clit again. Only this time, I take it into my mouth and begin to gently suck. This drives Erika absolutely wild. She begins thrashing on the bed, snatching at the covers as sensuous whimpers and moans drip from her mouth.

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